…and then christianity became capitalism's philanthropic arm

Flying Sources: The Fog of Profitabiity

Whatever it was that President Obama tried to do by putting Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security on the chopping block as part of the debt ceiling talks, he succeeded in laying bare for all but the most fog-bound, John Boehner’s loyalties. While Boehner feigned amazement at Obama suggesting, “massive tax hikes in the middle of a jobs crises,” the fog has flown on Boehner-speak. The code is broken. None
of the loop holes, subsidies and tax breaks Obama wanted to close as part of his “grand bargain” touched middle class taxes, or even their close kin on up the economic ladder.

Obama focused the revenue side of his plan at the levels where wealth and profit are most concentrated. It seems logical. You can draw a straight line from this sector to the collapse of the American economy in 2008, something you cannot do between lets say Medicare recipients and the collapse. And, along with our wars which have also been lucrative for the top-tier, the collapse is largely responsible for the national debt. While this sector of the American economy has benefitted from years of tax relief, tax avoidance and tax subsidies, as employers they have largely abandoned the American worker. From those they do employ, higher production is demanded at scaled-back salaries.

And as far as raising taxes being a job killer, the fog has flown here too. The assertion
that low business taxes translates into greater hiring was disproved during both the Clinton Administration, when business taxes were increased and hiring did not falter, and the last Bush Administration, when taxes were not increased and neither was hiring. So much fog. So few taxes.

Since the collapse, and without the scapegoat of increased taxes, the corporate sector has generally refused to hire, keeping unemployment and thus the economy from rebounding. But when Obama says it is time for shared sacrifice, Boehner says no, no not yet, not for my Corporations; my handlers must remain competitive – you know, so they can create jobs. American corporations have rebounded and then some since
the collapse, stored their wealth overseas, and not hired. The issue here is
not competitiveness but compensation. Before hiring, they need a safety net for
their investors. Competitiveness means, for example, ensuring CEOs their grand
bonuses so no one will flee to another company. At what cost to American
society? For Boehner that does not appear to be a question. And so the idea of tampering with oil subsidies, private jet subsidies, corporate tax loop holes, and on and on ad nauseam, was just too much for Boehner. It trumped – as it always has – his concern over the debt crises and unemployment, and now the debt ceiling.